I think they can make this work.
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/btktk
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
First NFC apps appear in the Nexus S Android Market
It doesn't mean much yet but in a few more weeks more and more apps will start appearing. Go ahead all you wonderfully smart people and buy your iPhone 4 on Verizon that has NO NFC chip... yes, buy devices that are outdated.
Amplify’d from www.mobileburn.com
First NFC apps appear in the Nexus S Android Market
Some of the first NFC capable appliations for Google's Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system are appearing on the market. The Android Market on the Google Nexus S now offers two: Enable Table NFC and Taglet NFC. Taglet is a Japanese language application for transferring data, while the English language Enable Table can be used to earn "welcome back" coupons at the end of a meal by tapping the phone onto the check holder's NFC tag. You can find these two apps by searching on "NFC" in the Android Market on compatible devices.
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bmk2e
Monday, January 10, 2011
This will be interesting to see but wouldn't run out and buy. -- Best of Show CES 2011: The Motorola Atrix
Talk about an interesting concept and a great 1st gen. Way to step it up Motorola but honestly I wouldn't buy this from them. If you own a Motorola device right now you will understand why... they are crappy and apps run terribly on them. After discussing it indepth with a co-worker today a device like this may have peaked interest from a maker such as Apple but definitely not Motorola.
How crazy expensive do you think the dock will be? Will that really be useful?
Amplify’d from ces.crunchgear.com
Best of Show CES 2011: The Motorola Atrix
We’re all back at home this morning and I’ve been mulling over best of show all weekend. While we could take our love of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Minis to its obvious conclusion, considering that the candies eventually and inevitably turn into a sloppy mess when you hold them in your hand too long, we decided against it. Instead, we’ve chosen the unique and decidedly game-changing Motorola Atrix.
First, let me state that it was slim pickings out there. The show was, at best, a placeholder. Many of the major company events were actual snores (if you watched our live stream, you’d have seen that LG whipped out a fridge and washer combo and talked about Six Sigma for a bit, always a crowd-pleaser) and the only exciting event was the Motorola launch of the Xoom Honeycomb tablet and an odd phone that shouldn’t have captured our imaginations but definitely did: the Atrix.
The Atrix is a dual-core Android phone with a twist. The phone itself is fairly unremarkable but when paired with a keyboard and HDTV or the Atrix “laptop dock” the device becomes a netbook. The phone becomes the processor and everything is driven from the Atrix’s on-board storage. Although you’re not going to be running “real” applications, the built-in Webtop interface allows access to most mobile apps and, barring that, you can always run Android apps on a larger screen, adding offline and online productivity. Add in some Citrix support and you’ve got a winner.
Why did this win? Well, it was innovative and it was obvious. Many have tried and failed to do the same thing including Palm and a company called Redfly. However, no one has succeeded. What Motorola did is offer two separate potential paths for accessing your phone in a larger format – either via HDMI or via a separate piece of hardware. This means you don’t actually have to invest in a special peripheral if you don’t want to and, once you realize you love the Atrix’s feature set, you can upgrade to the laptop dock. You don’t have to use the Atrix’s most important feature, which is what makes it especially compelling.
We could have named any of the “me-too” tablets at CES but even Motorola’s own Xoom isn’t “real” yet because Honeycomb isn’t available and the rest of the devices seemed rushed at best. I suspect MWC and CTIA will bring us more compelling devices. As for the “smart” TVs if you’ve followed the market at all you’ll agree that sticking a web interface into a TV is a horrible idea. If there’s one thing TV manufacturers aren’t good at it’s offering updates for their devices. A TV is a monolithic device and updates aren’t a good idea when you’re talking about a consumer base that ranges from my Grandma to Bill Gates. The less you offer in a TV the better and to stick company-branded whozits, widgets, and whatzits on the screen is the last thing you want. A side-loading set-top box for those who need one (see Google TV)? Excellent. A built-in web interface? Absolutely not – at least not yet.
So that leaves us with the Atrix. I suspect what Motorola is really doing here is offering a new method for phone expansion akin the the all-but-dead Modu. However, what they’ve really done is breathed life into the same-old-same-old tired cavalcade of devices that tired manufactures rolled out at CES. For that, at least, we thank them.
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bla98
Friday, January 7, 2011
ComScore: Android jumps ahead of iOS in total US smartphone subscribers
Knew this was going to happen! Screw you Apple... screw you!
Amplify’d from www.engadget.com
ComScore: Android jumps ahead of iOS in total US smartphone subscribers
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bkuai
Monday, December 27, 2010
My 18 month old little ???
My little man is 18 months old today. He can be the sweetest boy or evil terror to his sister. Gives his share of kisses and hugs and recently started pushing me away... A true opinion of his own.
Many of you may remember his first real word was "poop" and on Christmas day he did a true follow-up -- 1st 2 words strung together and used appropriately "oh shit". A RC helicopter was about to hit us in the head and he was trying to warn us! Smart man.
Continuing with the theme tonight...
Just like his sister at this age, he likes to make 'bubbles' in the bath and tonight wasn't any different. BUT tonight was that one night that our luck ran out. He pushed a little too hard and I instinctually scooped out the bath toys before they became contaminated and then yanked him out and rinsed him off. He looked in there and laughed like a true little boy. Mommy had to clean up the baby Ruth.
Happy 18 months Conor!
Sent from my iPhone
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
WishGenies uses Facebook Likes and community to help your gift shopping
This is an app that we can all use beyond they holidays since in all honesty most of us suck at gift giving. I know that most of the time I spend hours going through sites or standing in stores looking for the perfect gift... by using WishGenies quite a bit of that hassle is gone.
Can you believe Jeff really gave Keilee a PS3? Yes, I know both of these people and she is definitely not playstation type. Now he may be able to get her a gift that has a power cord since she has more gadget cred than he does but still...
Happy Holidays!
Amplify’d from technicallyphilly.com
If you’re still hunting gift ideas for a friend or three, a Facebook application from a local developer hopes to have the answer.
Launched in November, WishGenies is a lightweight tool in beta that leverages Facebook user ‘likes’ and an early-adopting community to offer suggestions.
This author signed in, chose a Facebook friend for whom he was seeking a gift, added some other keyword preferences of my friend and, within six hours, I had three suggestions under my $50 price range. One was a book that this friend has and enjoyed and two others were gifts that, truly, I just might purchase.
The app is from Jeff Deville, a 32-year-old freelance web developer living in Plymouth Meeting. Most suggestions come in within a day, he said.
“Two Christmases ago, I was looking for a present for my girlfriend, now wife. I went with a buddy of mine to the King of Prussia Mall, and we walked around the whole thing, both sides. We left sans gifts. A week or two later sees me walking out of the Sony Store with a Playstation 3 — for my girlfriend,” Deville, formerly the web architect for yellowbook.com. “It went over about as well as you might have expected. I was forbidden from ever buying her anything with a power cord again.”
Deville says he’s learned that it’s easier to buy a gift for a friend than a family member or loved one. That’s because you have the same interests as your friends, he says, so you should seek gift advice from those who have those same interests. With the power of Facebook groups and ‘likes,’ participating ‘genies’ can have powerful access to insight on an individual’s tastes.
Born in Baton Rouge but raised in Tucson, Deville says he’s focused first and foremost on user acquisition and developing the recommendation platform. In time, he hopes to further develop the basic commission partnerships and Amazon referrals that are already included.
At this early stage, books have accounted for more than a quarter of the first several hundred recommendations through WishGenies, Deville says.
“Ultimately, the one thing I don’t want to do is let stores pay to give their products placement as a recommendation,” he says. “I’m very serious about this being a place where the quality of the recommendation comes first.”
With just a few hundred users, the application needs a heavy influx of gift-idea-seekers to boost metrics and develop the app, but the idea is simple and effective. Its truest shortcoming is one that many new Facebook apps face, being without true integration into Facebook. The user has to return to the WishGenies interface to find if any suggestions have come through. The app also depends on big community buy in, the larger, more diverse group of ‘genies’ submitting suggestions, the more successful. Otherwise, the app might struggle to offer relevance. If it takes, the idea can be a simple success.
Give WishGenies a try, and tell us what you think. Is this a keeper?
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/j28z
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Going to Great Wolf Lodge
Caitlyn woke EXTREMELY early this morning and climbed into bed with me... I did my best to ignore her but I had no chance against her. Conor must have sensed the movement from the other side of the house and he woke too. Happy Sunday!!
The kids must have gotten into some sugar or something cause they were absolutely insane during the morning routine. Lots of running around, no listening and fighting over lollipops that they are not supposed to have at 8am ensued.
So the car is packed with entirely too much crap and most likely not the right stuff but we have our swimsuits and I think that is all that really matters!!
I keep hoping that Conor will catch a nap on the ride up but it doesn't look like that is going to happen... This is going to be a challenging day.
I did bring migraine meds. No clue how to keep sanity intact though.
Sent from my iPhone
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